Women Who Murder In "Self Defense"

As the Jodi Arias murder trial continues to captivate the public, I decided to take a look at other cases in which a woman charged with first degree murder claimed self-defense. I chose a few that I was familiar enough with to write about. In the state of Arizona, if the jury finds a defendant guilty of first degree murder with at least one of the aggravating factors - they go on to decide if a defendant receives life in prison or a death sentence.

Prior to August 2002, sentencing was handled entirely by the trial judge, with no jury involvement. Arizona’s new death penalty statute calls for a 2 part sentencing process. In the first phase, the prosecutor presents evidence relating to aggravating circumstances. If the jury determines that the State has not established at least one statutory aggravating circumstance, the defendant is no longer subject to the death penalty. The jury is dismissed and the trial judge decides the appropriate sentence.

If the jury finds that there is at least one aggravating circumstance, the jury remains empaneled and considers any mitigating evidence presented by the defense or by the State, as well as victim impact evidence. The jurors then decide whether to impose a death sentence, assessing whether the proffered mitigation is sufficiently substantial to warrant leniency. 

Jodi Arias is charged with first degree murder with the aggravating circumstance that the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner. Regardless of what came first, the gunshot, the 29 stab wounds or the slit throat, this was an especially heinous cruel and depraved murder! Even if Arias shot Travis Alexander first, as she claims - in her scenario he was still alive and coming after her after being shot in the head. A gunshot to the head would have been painful and would have rendered him somewhat incapacitated yet she still stabbed him more than 2 dozen times and cut his throat so deeply it nearly severed his spine. Thankfully Judge Stephens agrees that the murder was heinous regardless of the order of the many lethal wounds to Travis Alexander.

How willing are jurors to hand down a death sentence to a young woman with no prior criminal record?  Let's take a look at another case prosecuted by Juan Martinez in the same jurisdiction:  

State of Arizona vs. Wendi Andriano.
Wendi Andriano is one of the three woman who currently resides on Arizona's death row at the Lumly Unit in the Arizona State Prison Complex in Perryville. Andriano was 30 years old at the time of the murder of her 33 year old husband Joe Andriano. Andriano's husband was terminally ill and very weak from undergoing chemotherapy and wasn't expected to recover from his illness.

In the early morning hours of October 8 2000, police and paramedics were called to the couple's Ahwatukee apartment to find Joe Andriano dead from 23 blows to the head and a lethal knife wound to his neck. A bloody Wendi Andriano told the police her husband became enraged and attacked her after she told him she had been having an affair with another man. She claims they struggled with the knife and she killed him in self defense. The medical examiner found traces of sodium azide in Joe's system, which the police linked directly to Wendi Andriano - she had been trying to poison her husband without success, and it was also uncovered at trial that she had tried to enlist friends to pose as her husband in an attempt to have a life insurance policy reinstated in her husband's name before the murder. 

Wendi Andriano, like Jodi Arias - chose to take the stand and testified for 9 days. During her testimony, she claimed her husband took the sodium azide in an attempt to end the suffering from his terminal cancer - she also alleged that husband Joe stabbed himself during the struggle for the knife. On 11/18/04, the jury returned a guilty verdict against Andriano after 2 1/2 hours of deliberations. She was sentenced to death by lethal injection on 12/22/04.

Hong Kong vs. Nancy Kissel:  Nancy Kissel was convicted of first degree murder for the 11/2/03 slaying of husband Rob Kissel in their Hong Kong luxury apartment. Kissel's body was found rolled up in carpeting in the couple's storage unit at the apartment they shared. Kissel had been bludgeoned to death and had large amounts of sedatives in his system. Dubbed "the Milkshake Murder" by the press, the trial received international press coverage - Rob Kissel was a very successful investment banker for Merrill Lynch. During Nancy Kissel's trial, she testified that she suffered years of physical abuse and sexual humiliation at the hands of husband Rob, and claims he raped and sodomized her over a 5 year period of time. Prosecutor's claimed Nancy Kissel's affair with a man in the US had been discovered by husband Rob, who planned to tell Nancy he wanted a divorce the night he was murdered. Nancy Kissel testified that on the night of the killing, Rob flew into a rage about the affair and came at her with a baseball bat. She swung back with a statue, and after hitting him he became more enraged and threatened to kill her.  Sound familiar?  The jury was unmoved by Nancy Kissel's testimony and convicted her of first degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. Kissel was granted a new trial in 2010 after the prosecution improperly used evidence including hearsay, and the jury instructions were problematic. Her new trial had the same outcome and on 3/25/11 she was found guilty and received a life sentence.

State of CA vs. Susan Polk: 70 year old psychologist Dr. Felix Polk was found dead on 10/14/02 in the pool house of the couple's Orinda home. 47 year old wife Susan Polk was arrested and charged with first degree murder. Felix Polk had 27 wounds on his body, including at least 15 stab wounds and blunt force trauma.  Polk first denied any knowledge of or involvement in her husband's death, but later claims she killed him in self defense. At trial, Polk claimed she suffered from years of beatings and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband, and on the day of the murder he brandished a kitchen knife against her. She gained control of the knife and stabbed him instead. Polk was found to have no defensive wounds from her husbands alleged attack. Two of the Polk's sons took the stand against their mother, a third son testified that their father was an unstable parent. The jury wasn't convinced of pre-meditation and convicted Susan Polk of second degree murder. Before she was sentenced, Polk shouted at jurors "shame on your all" - she received a sentence of 16 years to life.

State of TX vs. Susan Wright:  On 1/13/03, Jeffrey Wright was stabbed 193 times by his wife - 26 year old Susan Wright. She then buried his body in their back yard, and promptly filed a domestic abuse report in order to get a restraining order against her (dead) husband. She attempted to cover up the crime by painting the bedroom. On 1/18/03, Susan Wright called attorney Neal Davis and asked him to come to her Houston home, where she admitted to stabbing her husband. Davis contacted the DA's office to inform them of the body buried in the couple's back yard and the confession. Wright turned herself in on Friday 1/24/03 and was indicted for murder the following Monday.
Wright plead not guilty by reason of self-defense and her trial began 2/24/04. During the trial, Wright took the stand and tearfully told the jury her husband became violent on the night of the murder after a long cocaine binge. Once she started stabbing him, she testified "I couldn't stop stabbing him, I couldn't stop". She told the jury she feared Jeff wasn't dead and that he was going to kill her. ADA Kelly Siegler presented a different theory to the jury, calling Wright a "card-carrying, obvious, no doubt about it, caught red-handed, confirmed and documented liar". Siegler famously had the couple's bed brought into the court room and reenacted the murder, counting out each stab wound in dramatic fashion "1-2-3-4-5-6", and asking Wright "didn't you get tired?" It was a dramatic trial, that's for sure - it spawned a made for TV movie called "Blue-Eyed Butcher". On 3/4/04, Wright was found guilty of murder after the jury deliberated for 5 1/2 hours. While the State was hoping for a sentence of 55 years, the defense argued for probation! Wright received a 25 year sentence, which was later reduced to 20 years after a new witness came forward to testify about the domestic violence she suffered during a 4 year relationship with murder victim Jeff Wright. The new witness was his former fiancee.

It goes to show how similar crimes committed in different states can have much different outcomes and sentences. What will this Maricopa County jury ultimately decide Jodi Arias's fate should be? Will seeing and hearing her testify for so many weeks have an effect on their ability to hand down the ultimate punishment? Judging by the 200+ jury questions we heard this week, one thing is crystal clear - they have been paying close attention to Arias's words. They are questioning the many things that don't make sense, they are calling her on discrepancies. They seem to be asking her why she felt it was absolutely necessary to take the action she took, she had other options. 

It's difficult for society to think of women and capital punishment. Women are regarded as "the fairer sex" for a reason. Most violent crimes are committed by men, women who kill tend to do it more passive non-violent ways such as poisoning or a single gunshot. Jodi Arias showed no mercy on Travis Alexander, whether she remembers it or not. I hope that seeing Travis's siblings in the courtroom every day has made an impact on the jury. They jury has only heard Travis's voice in the most negative way imaginable. Whether or not he obeyed the "laws of chastity" has no bearing on whether or not he should have been brutally murdered. She has used Travis's own faith against him, and as much as she claims to not want to "de-edify" Travis Alexander - she has done that and so much more over the course of this trial. She has used words like "edify" in an effort to paint herself as an articulate, intelligent and soft spoken woman who would never kill anybody unless she absolutely had to. The defense has actually tried to insinuate that since her prior boyfriends are all still breathing, she must not be a vengeful killer.  What will the jury decide?  What will the defense "experts" say next week about Jodi Arias?  Will the contents of the stolen laptop of prosecution witness Dr. Janeen Demarte fall into the hands of Jodi Arias's defense team?

Hey, she was willing to try to smuggle a coded message out of jail via two magazines during a jail visitation - is having a laptop stolen that far fetched? Arias does have followers, after spending nearly 5 years in the Estella jail in Phoenix.  Wouldn't surprise me at all if one of her supporters was behind the break in, especially if the laptop was the only thing taken from the break in. Like the .25 caliber gun stolen from Arias's grandparents Yreka home. Is this just another coincidence? It very well could be.  

My hopes are that the jury will speak for Travis Alexander, who can no longer speak for himself.  Relying on the word of somebody like Jodi Arias can be a very dangerous mistake.

Jury Seems Skeptical of Jodi Arias

As the Jodi Arias murder trial continues with more questions from the jury, it seems the jury has some serious concerns with Arias's memory loss, "the fog", her decision to use a gun instead of trying to leave Travis's home and many other parts of her testimony.

Here are some of the questions they have asked so far this morning - these are taken from my notes, so these are not the exact questions but you can get a flavor of what they are asking her:

Question: Is there anybody else who is aware of your memory issues?
Question: Did any of Travis's roommates hear any of your altercations?
Question: Would you consider the incident where Travis choked you stressful? If so, why do you remember it so clearly?
Question: Why were you afraid of the consequences of killing Travis if you did so in self defense?
Question: What happened to the gas cans you borrowed in June, 2008?
Question: During your altercations with Travis, why didn't you scream so somebody could help you?
Question: If you were afraid of what Travis was capable of, why did you let him tie you up?
Question: Do you recall the injuries inflicted on Travis on 6/4/08 without looking at the photos?
Question: After you grabbed the gun, did you cock it, slip off a safety or do anything else to it?
Question: Do you have any firearm training, and have you ever shot a .25 caliber gun before 6/4/08?
NOTE:  Interestingly enough, she said she hadn't shot a gun before but was "familiar with them". Didn't she tell Det. Flores she had no knowledge of guns? She said her grandfather's gun looked like a toy.
Question: How far away from you was Travis when you shot him? Not when he lunged but when the shot occurred?
Question: Did Travis keep ammunition at his house?
Question: If Travis lunged at you, why didn't you just move to the side and out of the way?
NOTE: She said "it happened so fast, I didn't have time to think".
Question:  Why do you remember screaming after dropping the knife, but don't remember taking the gun or rope?
Question: You testified that you believed you stabbed Travis based on logic. How do you explain the blood on your hands, clothes and the bloody palm print?
Question: Was Travis sitting in the shower when you dropped the camera?
Question: How did Travis's anger escalate after you shot him?
Question: Was Travis still chasing you after you shot him?
Question: Why did you have 3 separate gas purchases instead of one transaction for all of the gas in Pasadena?
Question: Did you enjoy having sex with Travis?
Question: Why did you wait so long to tell the truth?
NOTE: Same old answer here, but she added this time that it took time to get to this point where she is now. She said that she had written and sent suicide notes to her grandmother's house with instructions "do not open until 11/10/08". That date came and went and she's still here!
Question: If you hadn't been arrested, would you have decided to tell the truth?
Answer:  I honestly don't know.
Question: How many times have you tried to kill yourself?
Question: Why didn't you run out of the house instead of grabbing a gun?
Question: You testified you didn't realize you shot Travis - why didn't you call 911 to help him when the fog lifted?
Question: Would you agree that regarding the 6/4/08 altercation, you came away relatively unscathed compared to Travis who was shot, stabbed and had his throat slashed?
Question:  How could you kiss another man after what you just did to Travis Alexander?
Question: Were you still in the fog when you kissed Ryan?
Question: After all of the lies you have told, why should we believe you now?
Question: What happened to the suicide letters you sent to your grandmother?
Question: How can you say you have no memory issues when you don't remember stabbing Travis 27 times, slashing his throat and shooting him?
Question:  You claim things happened so fast that you didn't have time to think, so why did you think to grab the gun in the closet?

Just a quick update to give you an idea of what they are asking her, in case you don't have access to the trial. I couldn't be happier with the questions they have asked her! It seems to me that they have some serious issues with Jodi Arias's story, her memory loss, the lies - and most importantly, they seem to really be focused in on the absolute viciousness of this attack. Jodi Arias walked away unscathed (as the jury question pointed out), this was a one sided attack or Jodi would've been more seriously injured. I'm so happy that they seem to be really questioning her account of events. 

Kirk Nurmi is questioning Arias again - yes, she's STILL on the stand. The jury questions have to be rattling her attorneys. Let's get her off the stand and get the trial moving forward with the experts!

Jury Questions Cast Doubt Over Arias's Claims

After a morning full of sidebars and discussions between Judge Sherry Stephens, Arias's defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott and prosecutor Juan Martinez, Arias got back on the stand to answer some 158 questions submitted by her own jury. It is highly rare to see this happening in a courtroom today - Arizona is only one of three states that allow the jury to ask questions of witnesses. Most juries never hear a murder defendant utter many words during the course of an entire trial, yet this jury has heard Jodi Arias talk for the last 16 consecutive days. She is expected to be back on the stand today, as they were unable to get through the some 158 questions submitted by the jury over the course of her testimony. As she was answering questions yesterday, the jury continued to place additional questions into the box placed there for that purpose.

Hearing the jury questions provides attorneys on both sides an opportunity to take a glimpse into the minds of the jury, and make adjustments to their case in areas perceived to be troublesome. Judging by the questions we heard yesterday, Arias has cause to be concerned!  I was personally relieved, and even smiling as the judge read some of these questions. The questions had the overall feel of skepticism over many facets of Jodi Arias's claims - and not just in one area, but in several key areas of her case.  Of the questions asked, there seemed to be more in the areas surrounding the gun and how she had enough time to get to the gun with Travis Alexander allegedly only steps behind her, their sex life and why she continued to have sex with him after the alleged "child porn" incident, and not surprisingly they challenged her about her dedication to the Mormon faith and her memory issues.

Some of the best questions:

Question: How is it that you remember so many of your sexual encounters, including your ex-boyfriends but you don't remember stabbing Travis or dragging his body?
Arias answer: "Well, as far as what happened on June 4, I don’t know how the mind works necessarily, but I know that that was the most traumatic experience of my life. And outside of those blanks, and the ones that I’ve mentioned as far as that were alcohol related when I was a teenager, I don’t have other blackouts that I can recall, when memories get foggy when I get stressful. I think that I actually have a very good memory. I can remember tons of things. But when I’m under a stressful situation, it’s as if my mind, if you can imagine a computer that freezes, it’s turned on but it’s not functioning. You can hit the keys, but nothing’s happening, just like the sound waves are hitting my ears, but the brain is not computing… so I don’t black out during those times, but my mind is not processing the English words that are being sent to me, or screamed at me, or whichever," said Arias.

Question:  Why did you call cops on your ex boyfriend after he shook you, but you didn't call the police on Travis?
Arias answer: I never called on Travis because of a previous experience when I tried to call and he grabbed the phone out of my hand and hung up. It was a very negative experience...

Question:   Did you ever see a doctor for your memory issues?
Arias answer:   Arias answered that she didn't believe she had memory issues because it only happened during stressful situations. She never sought medical treatment.


Question:  Why did it take you two years after the killing to tell the truth?
Arias answer:  Arias answered that she was deeply ashamed, and it was a gradual process where she realized she wanted to tell the truth.

Question:  Do you feel the guys in your life cheated on you because you were too controlling?
Arias answer:  Arias said she thought it was just the opposite, because she was too trusting and gave them too much freedom.


Question:  Why did you continue to sleep with Travis after you found out his attraction to children?
Arias answer: Arias answered that she understood Travis felt normal when he had sex with her. She said he also had beautiful qualities and wanted to change.

Question:  You told Darryl you wanted to abstain from sex until after you were married - why did you then begin having sex with Travis?
Arias answer:  She said that she listened to Travis and he said it was vaginal intercourse that was off limits.
(NOTE: REALLY JODI?? There's no way she believed that, she's blaming him again)

Question:  Why did you take photographs of the "Travis Alexanders'" t-shirt and underwear but not the Spiderman underwear?
Arias answer:  “I did not take pictures of those because that is embarrassing. As opposed to the shorts and shirt, which were sentimental to me. I didn’t want to memorialize boys’ underwear. And I didn’t want people to know that was a preference of his and that I was dumb enough to go along with that preference,” said Arias.


Question:  Why did you delete the photos off Alexander's camera after killing him?
Arias answer:  Arias says she doesn't remember why she deleted them.


Question:  You claim you bought a gun for suicide, what stopped you?
Arias answer:  Arias answered that she was arrested before she could do it.

Question:   During the attack, why didn't you just run from the house?
Arias answer:  Arias claimed she didn't think she could make it because he had caught her in the past.

Question:  If you didn't know the gun was loaded, why did you grab it instead of just running away?
Arias answer:  Arias answered that she thought even if the gun was not loaded, he would stop if she pointed it at him.

Question:  Why didn't you call 911?
Arias answer:  "I was very scared of what would happen to me. I knew that..or I felt that I had done something wrong. I don't really have an adequate explanation for my state of mind following that. I just knew something really bad happened".
NOTE: she has started to reference her "state of mind" - I've heard her attorney also say it several times over the last few days.

Question:  How do you determine when you will tell the truth?
Arias answer:  Arias said she tried to cover up things about her involvement with Alexander and anything that made her look bad after his death.

Question:  You say Travis attacked you prior to the June 4, 2008 incident but then would apologize. So why was the June 4, 2008 incident different?
Arias answer:  "On prior occasions I never feared for my life. Even when he was choking me and I was losing consciousness I never had enough time to fear for my life....when I thought back about it I realized I could have died"....

Question:  If Alexander attacked you, why didn't you tell the police the truth to begin with?
Arias answer:  Arias said she didn't want to have to explain everything they had been through, and she also hinted she didn't want to tell anyone about the incident of catching him with the photo of the young boy.

Question:  If you shot Travis first, how did the bullet casing land in blood?
Arias answer: Arias claims she doesn't know if it landed on blood, and hinted it may have been moved during their struggle.

Question:  Why did you put Travis's body back in the shower?
Arias answer: Arias said she didn't remember.

Question:  Why did you take the gun with you?
Arias answer: She claims she doesn't remember taking it, but remembers disposing of it.

Question:  Travis stated during the phone sex conversation he didn't like Spiderman. Why would he buy you Spiderman underwear if he did not like that character??
Arias answer:  “I don’t know why but they were Spider-Man. I do know however that the year prior he… there’s a child he was close with that really liked Spider-Man. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. He was very much into Spider-Man. He would dress up as Spider-Man,” replied Arias.

Question:   How did you have time to get the gun down if he was right behind you?
Arias answer:  “I don’t know if he was right behind me or not. I just had the sense that he was chasing after me,” said Arias.

Question:  Why didn't you read The Book of Mormon to see what you were and weren't allowed to do?
Arias answer:  She said that she did read it, but needed to read other documents to truly understand what was allowed.


Question:  Would it be fair to say you were jealous Travis was taking another woman to Cancun?
Arias answer:  "No, I was not upset.  I wasn't upset at all actually.  Cancun was announced a year before, I thought he was taking a babysitter. I didn't find out he was taking Mimi Hall until well afterwards".


Question:  Can Arias walk us through the killing with a floor plan of Alexander's home?
Arias answer:  Arias pointed to where she dropped the camera and he first attacked her in the bathroom. She ran for the closet, got the gun and turned around and aimed it at him. She said "the moment I broke away, that's when he threatened my life.  I have no clear memory after that, at all. Things got really foggy after the gun went off". Alexander allegedly threatened her life after the gun went off and her memory went blank. 


Question:  Did you ever take pictures of yourself after Travis hit you?
Arias answer:  No, I did not.

Question:  Did you ever tell Travis you were uncomfortable with his sexual fantasies?
Arias answer:  Arias said yes she did not want to have sex on an airplane, because she was afraid they would get caught.
(NOTE: This doesn't seem like an answer to the question asked)




This is only a sampling of the questions Arias answered yesterday, and they are taken from my own notes so the answers may not be word for word, or representative of the complete answer. Some of the questions were multiple part questions. She was also asked about bruises - the jury wanted to know if anybody ever saw or asked her about bruising on her. They also asked if anybody saw her wearing that finger splint Travis allegedly made for her left ring finger. The jury questioned why Arias never took photographs of certain things, yet seemed to memorialize other things with her camera or journal. They asked why she never took photos of injuries she received at the hand of Travis Alexander, why she would stay with him after the alleged "self pleasuring" incident on 1/21/08 and why she would continue to see him in light of all of the above. They asked why she got gas in Pasadena if she brought the gas cans to get cheap gas out of state. They hit on just about everything we have been talking about since the trial began.

There also seems to be some doubt in the jury's mind on whether or not Arias could have escaped on June 4, 2008 instead of killing Travis Alexander. Based on their previous history, perhaps the jury is thinking what we are all thinking. Her story falls apart as soon as she opens her mouth. Is it logical that Travis Alexander would not be furious over Arias blowing out the transmission or engine towing his BMW behind that U-Haul, yet he would become fatally furious over the dropping of his camera? The camera did not appear to be damaged in any way, even after being run through a washing machine! If you don't believe he was mad enough to kill her over the camera or anything else, her whole story falls apart right from the beginning. The jury has been paying attention, these questions show how closely they have been listening.  

The jury questioning will continue today. This trial has to be one for the record books! Has anybody seen anything like this ever? At one point yesterday, Arias began answering a jury question on the subject of why she didn't simply try to escape, and she was starting to describe herself as running down the hallway and attorney Kirk Nurmi quickly objected and cut her answer off, objecting because Arias had previously testified that she didn't remember things around this area of questioning! I've never seen a defense attorney objecting to his client literally mid-sentence.  I would be interested in seeing what some of the tossed questions were from yesterday, especially the one where I described Nurmi objecting on the grounds that it went into areas of "attorney-client privilege". Would have loved to see what that question is.

I think Arias is adding little bits of detail to her testimony as she is answering these questions. The prosecutor is listening to her answers very carefully, and objecting when she starts to stray from the question, as she is known to do. Again, her answers mostly seem scripted, and she seems to get a little tripped up if something she hasn't been asked before is introduced.  Would love to see her put her foot directly into her mouth today.  Sorry, I'm really trying to be unbiased while writing this but it's very very difficult when I feel so strongly about the case and how this woman who claims she doesn't/didn't want to "edify" Travis Alexander, yet her she sits saying horrible, sick and twisted things (can I add "unverified to the sentence) about him in an attempt to save her own skin. It's disgusting.

I was also a little horrified to see that Jodi Arias seems to have her own fan club of sorts out there in cyberspace. There's a site that is dedicated to Arias's innocence, and there's even a "Team Jodi" referenced under the site address. I can't bring myself to click on that link, but I suppose she is considered innocent until proven guilty - this is America.  I am just surprised that there are people who truly believe she was justified in what she did. Let's hope those people are in happy and healthy relationships with no jealousy issues!  

Updates to follow as the jury questions resume.  Enjoy your day!

Time For Jodi Arias To Answer Jury Questions

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi finished up his redirect of murder defendant Jodi Arias on Tuesday, her 15th consecutive day on the witness stand. More than 50% of court time has featured Jodi Arias, something relatively shocking in a day where most defendants never take the stand in their own defense. Arias had no choice but to take the stand due to the overwhelming physical evidence gathered from the Mesa crime scene, and the vicious nature of the murder of 30 year old Travis Alexander.

Arizona courts allow the jurors to ask questions of the witnesses in a case, and yesterday it was revealed that the Arias jury has submitted more than 100 questions throughout her 15 days on the witness stand. When cross examined by prosecutor Juan Martinez, Arias was often times combative, dismissive and otherwise uncooperative - answering "sure", "OK", "I don't recall", "I don't remember", and "I don't understand what you are asking me". She will not be able to take this tactic with the jury who holds her fate in their hands. The jury will want answers.

I find it unfortunate that while the jury has heard and seen Jodi Arias on the stand for the last 15 days, they have had little exposure to the murder victim Travis Alexander - and what they have heard of him hasn't been good. They were subjected to a graphic XXX rated audio recording made by Arias, in which the pair talk in graphic detail about things they would like to do to each other. The defense has painted Travis Alexander as a sexual deviant, a man who secretly had an attraction to young boys, who used Arias for kinky and degrading sex acts and brutalized her on several occasions. There is no proof that any of the alleged incidents of violence ever occurred, other than Jodi Arias's word that they did. There is no proof that Alexander had inappropriate feelings for young boys. The defense took a sentence that he uttered on the now infamous sex tape and built the lies around what little "proof" they had to work with. Arias contends she taped the May 2008 call at the request of Travis, but after hearing the tape it seems clear to me that he had no idea it was being recorded.

If only the jury could ask Travis Alexander how he felt when he was first stabbed, and realized it was the woman he had just been intimate with. If only Travis could testify about how scared he was when he had a gun pointed at his face and was shot.  If only he could tell the jury how having his throat cut by Jodi Arias felt.  If only.....

The defense still has more witnesses to call in their case in chief. Expect to hear expert witnesses in the area of battered woman's syndrome, PTSD and maybe even domestic violence testify. Since they have all formed opinions based on what Arias has told them and considering they are witnesses for the defense, I'd expect they will testify that Arias shows signs of being a battered woman - this will be hard to sit through. Expect Juan Martinez to cross examine them, and ask them if their opinions would be invalid if Arias was found to be lying to them.  Expect Juan Martinez to call experts for the State during his rebuttal case.  Then closing arguments will begin - followed by the jury instructions and deliberations.  When will this all end? The judge appears to be erring on the side of caution in giving the defense a great deal of latitude in their testimony and lines of questioning, as is such with a death penalty case.

There were a few comments about the gun evidence in this case. If this gun could possibly help Jodi Arias, I believe the defense would have found it. They've had years and years to have Jodi Arias guide them to an approximate area where she tossed the gun in the desert. I believe that IF the gun was in fact not her grandfather's stolen .25 caliber gun, she would've had no reason to take it and dispose of it. She took the gun because it could be linked back to her grandfather and to her.  If the gun wasn't Arias's grandfathers, that would go a long way to showing Arias did not have premeditation in bringing that gun with her.  Yesterday, she added a detail to her gun story. She claims that when she went into that closet on 6/4/08, she didn't go in with the intent of getting the gun (her use of words, "intent" is obvious), rather she thought of it after she was already in the closet. She added a detail we hadn't heard before, saying the gun used to be kept in a holster on the top shelf.  She believes that adding such a detail gives her story more credibility, it does just the opposite, it makes her look even more deceptive to me.

Jodi Arias is trying to escape punishment for brutally and viciously killing this man she claimed to be in love with. When it helps her to say she loved him she does, yet when it makes her look bad (obsession) she claims she only loved him as a friend. They have put their own spin on the little they have to work with in defending this woman, but did they go overboard in their attempts to paint him in such an unflattering light? It angers me when the murder victims seem to be forgotten in these trials where it becomes all about the defendant and all the people who have wronged them, and all the abuse they suffered as a child and adult. What about Travis Alexander? I hope the jury remembers who the true victim is, I hope they look carefully at the crime scene photos and the vicious nature of this attack, and I hope they apply their own common sense to reach the appropriate conclusion. This just doesn't look like self defense, regardless of how they are trying to make Travis Alexander look like a deviant. That is not even relevant, if you do believe Arias.

The jury questions are supposed to begin today. It's being reported that the judge and attorneys are meeting early this morning to begin reading though them - the judge must decide which questions can be asked, and then Arias will have to answer to the jury!  Can't wait.

**UPDATE**

The attorneys, prosecutor and judge are reviewing the jury questions now. It looks like many of these questions won't be asked. They have already thrown out several questions that cannot be asked for legal reasons.  They are now going through each question that the defense doesn't want to be asked, defense gives their reason for objecting to the question and the judge asks for the State's stance, and then she decides if the question is in or out.

So far, I've heard the defense try to get 9 questions tossed, and the judge has overruled their objection on about 50% of them so far. We aren't hearing the questions, only the objections from either side and the basis of the objection (such as relevance, and I Nurmi argued a question went into attorney-client privilege on one question).

I'll bet the "attorney client privilege" question was a good one! Will be interesting to hear these questions, that's for sure. Jodi Arias is staring off into space with a blank look on her face as this process is unfolding. It's unclear whether Arias will have access to the questions before they are asked. Will she be caught off guard, like she was when Juan Martinez asked her something she wasn't expecting? She tried to buy some time to formulate her answer by stating "you haven't asked me about that before".  Aha.

Well, it's now 10:57AM PST and the judge just took the attorneys to her chambers. Not sure what's happening now.

Arias Jury Has Over 100 Questions

It appears Kirk Nurmi may be getting closer to the end of Jodi Arias's redirect. It's being reported that the jury has 100 questions for Arias! Arizona is one of the few states that allows jurors to ask questions of the witnesses, and they have been seen putting pieces of paper into a box throughout her testimony.  Once the redirect has concluded, the judge will review the jury questions with attorney's on both sides and decide whether or not each question can be asked of Arias.

Jodi Arias has been on the witness stand for 15 days straight - this is like nothing I've ever seen, and I'm wondering how the judge is going to handle the large volume of questions in that box. I wouldn't be surprised if they had to take time away from trial to review the questions, but I have no idea how it will work.

This afternoon, Nurmi finally got around to the events immediately surrounding the murder.  Nurmi asked Arias if she would like to remember what happened on June 4, 2008 - since there are many "huge gaps" she testified to having and she described being in a fog. Arias answered "part of me wants to remember because I feel I'm the one who should sit with those memories because I'm the one who caused it, I'm responsible".  Nice to hear her admit she is responsible - at least she remembers that much. Arias talked about nearly having a nervous breakdown after her previous long term boyfriend Darryl Brewer yelled at her!  Is she really that fragile, or is this all a huge act?

Arias claims that when she entered the closet on June 4, 2008 she didn't go in there with the intention of getting his gun, rather she thought of it when she was already inside the closet with Alexander in close pursuit.  Here's another problem I have with her story.  She still insists the gun she used to shoot him is not her grandfather's stolen gun. We know that after she killed him, Arias attempted to clean up the scene and she took with her all the evidence she believed would tie her to the crime. She only left the camera there because she thought those pictures she deleted were gone. Otherwise, I'm certain she would've taken the camera as well. If that gun was Travis Alexanders and not her grandfather's stolen gun, why did she take it and throw it in the desert? Why not just leave it there, wipe her fingerprints off and leave it there? She put the knife in the dishwasher, I'm assuming she wiped it clean first so why take the gun if it's NOT her grandfather's gun? 

I can't wait to hear some of the jury's questions and get a better feel for if they are buying this story or not. I'm not, are you?

15th Day Of Jodi Arias - Redirect Continues

Murder defendant Jodi Arias returned to the witness stand today - she has now been on the stand for 15 out of the 28 court days! Have you ever seen anything like this? Does she know that she has a right to remain silent??  It keeps getting stranger and stranger.

Today, attorney Kirk Nurmi continued to review points that were problematic following the grueling cross examination by prosecutor Juan Martinez last week. They discussed more of Arias's journal entries - one of which she wrote about coming to the realization she could never marry Travis or have children with him, making a point to mention that she would "worry about my children". I'm not aware that Mr. Alexander wanted to marry Jodi Arias, but she wrote "he told me time and time again that if he could marry me he would have won the wife lottery". She told Kirk Nurmi and the jury that Travis made that comment several times and she felt it was a "high compliment".

She also testified that Travis had "no tolerance for traffic" and said that during a drive to Anaheim, he became so angry at the traffic he began yelling and screaming at other drivers and he "couldn't restrain himself". Who hasn't gotten angry over traffic? Seems to me they are grasping at straws now. Finally, they discussed some issues that are actually relevant to the trial.  

The gun:  Nurmi revisited the May, 2008 break in at her grandparents Yreka home, where a .25 caliber gun was stolen - the prosecution believes this was the murder weapon, and Arias staged the break in. Arias denies stealing the gun and claims Travis Alexander had a .25 caliber gun at his home. Nobody who knew Travis ever saw a gun in his home. Nurmi to Arias: "in late May of 2008, did you have access to guns if you had wanted one"?  Arias: "yes, Darryl had a gun, Matt had guns - in fact Matt had an unregistered gun, which is a no-no in the state of California".  She also said her father owned several guns. This means nothing, because the whole point was that Jodi Arias didn't want anybody to know she had a gun.  Silly argument by Nurmi.

The rental car:  Nurmi made a similar argument about the rental car as he did for the gun. Nurmi to Arias:  "did you have people you could have borrowed a car from for this trip if you wanted to?" Arias:  "yes", and she named several people that more than likely would've loaned or swapped cars with her.  Again, not many points for Nurmi and Arias.  

The gas cans: They reviewed the 3 receipts from the ARCO station she filled up at in Pasadena, and the gas cans she borrowed from Darryl. Arias borrowed 2 five gallon gas cans from Darryl and purchased a 3 gallon gas can from WalMart, but returned it the same day when she realized she really didn't need it. She claims she didn't get a receipt when she returned it, WalMart just handed her the cash. If Arias says she got the gas cans to buy "cheap gas out of state", why did she fill them up in Pasadena?  Anybody?

Court is taking their lunch break - how much longer is Arias going to be up on that witness stand? This is unreal.

Former Co-Worker Claims Arias Was "Obsessed"

A woman who used to work with Jodi Arias while she lived in Palm Desert spoke out about Jodi Arias on Jane Valez Mitchell this afternoon.  Former co-worker "Veronica" (didn't want to give her last name) spoke to JVM today and provided interesting insight into the Jodi Arias she knew and worked with.  

She described Jodi as being "absolutely obsessed" with Travis Alexander - leaving multiple messages for him, and even driving to Arizona after getting off work to see him. When asked about her observations about Arias, Veronica said "all that's missing was a rabbit in a pot on the stove" - referencing the "Fatal Attraction" movie starring Glen Close.

She said that Arias was determined to get Travis Alexander and have a family with him.  When asked about her courtroom persona she said that Jodi always had a "flat affect" - she could get into trouble at work and have absolutely no reaction.  Sound familiar? JVM asked her if she believed Arias was bothered that Alexander was going to take another woman to Cancun, she said "oh yes, that threw her into a tizzy". Veronica was never contacted by the prosecution and isn't involved in the trial or case, but she did comment that she absolutely believes Arias was capable of the premeditated murder of Travis Alexander.  She was that obsessed. 

Naturally this is one person's observation and not proof of anything.  I believe HLN does their homework before they allow somebody to come on their show, so chances are "Veronica" did in fact work with Arias and she seemed to have a strong opinion based on the things she heard and saw working with Jodi Arias.  Interesting.

More observations were made today as Arias seemed to change her commentary around Travis to glowing words of love. She was defending him in many cases, and it has been suggested that the defense team has a copy of their expert witnesses reports on Arias and are now tweeking her testimony to better match that of a battered woman.  Trial resume tomorrow morning.